Nelson's heroism written all over his face?

To celebrate their 150th anniversary and its strong naval heritage, Woods’ 100 Old Navy Rum recently launched a project to find out what it means to be a hero for people in the UK today. During the month of June researchers interviewed 1,000 people from across the UK. The results of their research revealed that for 41% of people members of the army and the navy were considered the most heroic. A quarter of those questioned viewed doctors and paramedics as particularly heroic, followed by the police and fire services (23%). You may ask, however, where history fits into the survey...

The second part of the research project was carried out by Naomi Tickle, an international personologist and author of You Can Read a Face Like a Book, who identified the key facial characteristics that epitomise heroism. To test her theory, she applied these characteristics to a portrait of Viscount Horatio Nelson in order to ascertain whether or not he displayed the traits and whether they were common among today’s heroes and leaders. According to Tickle, Nelson had a Roman nose, a square forehead that was also high and sloped back, set back ears, a pointed chin, oval eyebrows and exposed eyelids. The outer corners of his eyes were also lower than the inner corners and his head was wider at the back. All these traits are allegedly symbols of heroism. A Roman nose reveals, for example, management skills and an ability to delegate and oversee people. A pointed chin is a sign of stubbornness and tenacity and oval eyebrows show that Nelson was good at bringing ideas together, organising his thoughts and expressing them clearly.